Don Johnson Quietly Pockets $19 Million

Veteran actor Don Johnson, known for his work on the era-defining “Miami Vice” in the 1980s, is “quietly pocketing $19 million in a settlement with the company that produced his long-ago CBS crime series, ‘Nash Bridges,’” The New York Times reports.

The agreement, signed Jan. 30 in Los Angeles, ends a three-year legal battle between Johnson and Rysher Entertainment. The dispute was over Johnson’s share of syndications from the show, which had its original CBS run from 1996 to 2001.

“A jury awarded Mr. Johnson $50 million in profits and interest three years ago, but Rysher appealed to try to get the total reduced,” The Times reports. “In the end, Mr. Johnson agreed to a settlement of $15 million and interest.”

The piece notes that similar battles between performers and producers over syndication profits are relatively common.

“James Garner, for example, sued Universal Studios’ television arm for more than a decade to win profits from his hit series ‘The Rockford Files,’” the story notes. “More recently, the late Jack Klugman won a settlement in 2012 after suing Universal for profits on his hit NBC show ‘Quincy.’”